Peace Prayer
by Sheytune
Summary: A look at a post-season 7 world from the POV of all of the major characters and a few minor ones . The title comes from the peace prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own them.

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_Make me a channel of your peace:_ _Where there is hatred, let me bring your love_

She's always wanted to believe that people can get along, that peace is possible. She's gone to sit-ins and candle light vigils. She's never understood how people can judge others by the colour of their skin, by who they love, by what political party they're affiliated with. Why choose to hate when you can choose to love instead?

With her best friend and her godchild on the run from a sick serial killer, she's starting to understand.

_Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord_

You win some, you lose some. She's always prided herself on not letting the ones she loses get to her. It's part of the game – sometimes the bastard is going to end up back on the streets, and all she can tell herself is that she'll get him next time.

This one feels more personal.

Even if she is cleared by the investigation into the bribery charges Pelant framed her with, she's not going to be able to let this one go.

_And where there's doubt, true faith in you._

He's not sure how much longer he's going to be able to keep them safe. Tempe is getting tired of moving, frustrated by having to stay away from the one man he knows she trusts.

She's going to want to contact him, maybe even go home.

He watches his granddaughter try to roll over and hopes that those weirdo colleague of Tempe's figure out how to get that sick bastard soon.

_Make me a channel of your peace:_ _Where there's despair in life, let me bring hope_

He's started working later. It doesn't seem fair that he should be able to go home and spend a leisurely evening with his wife and son while Booth has to go home to an empty house, so he's doing all he can think to do – examining the evidence, trying to find a way to nail Pelant.

He wants to be the one to find a way to catch him. More than that, he wants his kind-of-boss back.

_Where there is darkness, only light,_ _And where there's sadness, ever joy._

He's killed before.

At the time, he believed it was the right thing to do, but now he wonders if it really was. He'd hoped that dedicating his life to catching killers would lighten the stains on his soul.

For a short time, he had it all – a satisfying job, a son who would be a teenager sooner than he'd like to admit, a daughter whose face lit up when she saw him, a partner at work and at home. His days had been filled with laughter and joy.

As he walks through his too-empty house, he knows he'd gladly take the stains from killing Pelant if it would bring his family home.

_O Master, grant that I may never seek_ _So much to be consoled as to console;_

They've been friends for a long time. She watched him fall in love. She even stood by him when he tried to pretend he was happy with someone else. (She didn't really believe it, but it wasn't her call. If he said he was happy, she was happy for him.)

For a while, it looked like everything was going his way. He had the family he'd always wanted. This time, she was truly happy for him.

No one had expected it to fall apart the way it did.

It hurt to see how lost he was without them. She wants to make it better, but all she can do is keep reminding the board how valuable Dr. Brennan is, invite him out for a meal a couple of times a week, and get Hodgins and Angela whatever equipment might help catch that scum.

She wishes she could do more.

_To be understood as to understand,_ _To be loved, as to love with all my soul!_

She's never believed in a love that lasts forever. Attraction is a result of brain chemistry, and research has shown that humans were programmed to pair-bond for a few years – long enough for any offspring to graduate from the helpless infant stage.

It took her a long time to trust Booth, but years of turning to him when she didn't know where to turn, years of hurting when he hurt, made it impossible to deny the truth.

She loves him. An irrational part of her believes she always will.

She walks into yet another dingy hotel room and wishes he were there with her.

_Make me a channel of your peace:_ _It is in pardoning that we are pardoned_

He understands the value of forgiveness. In his business, it's critical. After all, patients who can't forgive remain stuck in the past. They can't move on to a new, healthier life. He's spent hours talking about releasing anger, letting go of hurt, acknowledging the pain and moving past it.

Even so, he's not sure he'll ever forgive Pelant for fracturing their team yet again.

_In giving of ourselves thatwe receive,_ _And in dying that we are born to eternal life._

He'd never thought she'd run.

Everyone knew Dr. Brennan was all about truth and justice. He'd expected her to trust in the system.

That would put her right where he wanted her.

He's done his research. It was obvious that she was the glue that held that misfit team of crime-fighters together. With her out of the way, they'd all be too devastated, too lost to get in his way. There would be nothing to stop him from carrying out the rest of his plan.

He writes the last line of code and sends his program out onto the web. After all, she can't hide forever.

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